The Children of Mars - Chapter 2

"I often sit and wonder all the while my heart's a ponder, what
faith brings forth today." The Wishing Well Saga

I first saw this wonderful woman named Icara when I was at a fund
raiser. She was this stunning lady, with long black hair and
hazel eyes. Her lips were full and rounded, pouting ever so
slightly. Her legs were long and sensuous, while her waist
complimented her full breast. To me, it was love at first sight,
you know that feeling that you only get, maybe once or twice in
your life? Well, with Icara, that was it for me. My name is Odex,
I did outsourcing for Mayor Harper. I'd met the Mayor during his
hard fought election battle between the incumbent Mayor Hughs,
before she was suddenly found dead in her home, from an apparent
accidental suicide. The poor woman had been drinking excessively,
and she had a weapon, a bad combination. The official report
stated that she had been drinking and stumbled over some
furniture, all the while, carrying a loaded weapon. The weapon
went off, and she died. Her body wasn't even discovered for about
three days. Nasty business, politics. But. Icara was somehow
removed from it all, even though she was the sister of the Mayor,
she managed to keep a low profile, preferring to concentrate on
humanitarian issues, like the Children of Mars project. The
project got started because Icara was one of them. One of the
lucky ones, who managed to grow up and find something beyond the
social stigma of being an orphan on Mars. Like I said, my job,
among many, was to do the ususal, security was also my
speciality. So. I guess you could say that I was a Jack of all
Trades. This skill would come in handy, because one night, I was
at home, doing what a bachelor does on a weeknight, basically, I
was drinking beer and playing interactive games. I got a call
from Icara, she sounded upset.

"I need your help. Someone is targeting the kids from the
orphanage. The one I was brought up in." Her voice was like
music, even when she was upset.

"What do you mean, when you say someone is targeting the
orphans?"

"I have a letter. A threat actually."

"What kind of a threat?"

"They want money or they are going to harm one of the children."
She began to cry.

I watched her for a long moment, then: "Did you call the police?"

"No! They said if I call the police, that, they would surely harm
one of the children. I don't know what to do. Please help me,
Odex."

Hmm. Here I was, sitting at home, eating a sandwich that my
social robot had made for me. When the woman I often thought
about, suddenly calls me. And needs my help. "How did you get my
number?"

"You gave it to me at a party. Don't you remember?"

If I was at a party, I wouldn't remember anything from the night
before. I had a substance abuse problem. I know. It is ugly. And
even uglier to admit, specially to myself. "I don't know what you
want me to do for you?"

"Just come to me. Or. Have I overestimated our friendship?" She
was looking like she was going to hang up. I assured her that we
were friends, the kind that could count on each other. When I
left my apartment, my Siamese cat Chow was busy begging me for
more food and attention. Hell. He had a full bowl of food, he
just wanted attention.

When I finally got to where Icara was at, she was a mess with
concern. The orphanage was a serious project that she had managed
to draw her entire family into. The Mayor had actually created
social concern through his office. The previous Mayor had done
everything she could to cut social programs that could help the
poor and the disenfranchised. But. That was the difference
between Mars and Earth. Earth had gone completely Idocratic,
showing all sorts of concerns for the environment, human rights,
hell, they had even outlawed money. Go figure, what type of
people don't like money, right? But. Icara saw something in the
policy of helping those who were less fortunate. And in this
case, the logic was obvious. She had been a victim of the system,
which had abandoned her when she was little and helpless. We'd
all heard about the horrible abuses the Children of Mars
underwent. Most at the hands of the Catholic Church and the
perverted priest and nuns, that used religion, as a cover, for
depravity. It did irreparable damage to the Institutions of Hope.
So. When those who wanted to honestly help the poor came along,
there was all this baggage that they had to overcome, let alone,
do the good work that needed to be done. I examined the letter.
It was signed by someone calling themselves Zarustra. It was an
urban legend, this Zarustra was a clown, that was suppose to be
the most horrible clown to ever live. There was this urban legend
about a band of clowns that came to Mars, about a hundred years
ago, they formed a tour, went to all the, then, small towns and
villages, doing carnival stuff. But. They would steal and murder
and rape, leaving chaos in their wake. Zarustra was suppose to be
the leader of the evilness. He became legend. So. The Clowns of
Mars became an infamous concept, that parents would tell their
kids about, in order to keep them from wandering outside the
protectiveness of the domes. I finally convinced Icara to call
the police. She really didn't want to, but I told her it was for
the good of the orphans. She finally gave in. After all the
confusion had settled down. I got with Icara at her brother's
estate, who was the Mayor of Diamond City. The Mayor and his wife
were very concerned, but their concern seemed to be focused
mostly on Icara's safety. This I understood. Rich people always
cared more about themselves than others. It was just the way
things were. Hmm? Where have I heard that before? I think,
thinking like that was used to justify Slavery and Jim Crow, a
few hundred years ago, back on Earth. Were we Slaves to the super
rich? I convinced the family to let me drive Icara home and make
sure she was safe.

"What a mess." Icara finally uttered in the aircar.

"What?" I had a few other things on my mind.

"This Zarustra. He is real, yes?" Her normally lovely voice
trembled.

"Oh. Naw. Zarustra is nothing more than an urban legend. Some
asshole is trying to scare you into giving him lots of money. It
is extortion actually."

"I don't know. We kids at the orphanage all knew that Zarustra
was real. Strange and horrible things would happen to us, and we
all knew that it was him." Icara began to weep again.

"Look, Icara. You did the right thing. I'll do my best to get to
the bottom of this. I'm good at finding out stuff. I don't know
why, but I have a talent for getting my nose into other people's
business. That is why your brother, the Mayor, calls on me from
time to time."

"I can tell you that the threat is very real, Odex."

"I'm not saying that it isn't. It is just that, evil people, try
and feed off of other people's fears, in order to turn a buck. It
has been like that, like, forever. Politicians do it all the
time. Not that I'm saying that Mayor Harper is doing anything
like that, I'm just saying."

It was a difficult time for everyone. At the Harper estate, there
was much concern, as would be expected. The so called Zarustra
had managed to directly contact the Mayor. While a large sum of
money was demanded, there was an odd request made. It had to be
delivered by Icara, herself, in person. That raised a red flag. I
was curious as to why the money had to be delivered by her. I
advised the family, after the so called officials had dissipated,
that there was something very wrong with the scenario. You see,
in most cases, like this, all the extortioners wanted was the
money. They could case less who made the final drop. And the
truth of the matter was, that, most rich people would never allow
themselves to be put in a situation, where they could be kidnaped
and placed in further financial obligation. This was known and
understood, the rule of the game were very clear. In this case, I
advised the family, who were worried beyond reasoning, that it
sounded like a thinly veiled attempt to get at Icara. I could
only guess as to the real motive, but I suspected that money
played a far lesser role than it seemed. Not to say that they
were not asking for a bunch of bucks, they were. You know, the
extortioners would harm one of the kids if the money was not
paid. In most cases, no one would even care. I mean, I hate to
say it, but these were children, the Children of Mars, that no
one really wanted. For whatever reason, they had be abandoned,
cast aside like so much trash. I know it sounds harsh, but those
were the facts. So. Why and how someone decided to play this
game, where, in truth, most rich people would just go on, and not
give a crap, was curious. Really. Curiouser and curiouser this
whole thing became. Not that my voice was the only one in the
room, they had so called experts, and I was just another talking
head. But. I liked Icara. I thought she was beautiful and smart
and funny and sweet. Yeah. I had a crush on her, but, it was a
healthy one. I knew that nothing could ever become of it, because
she came from a rich family now, and I was just some poor working
slob, horny for a woman I could never have. Except in my dreams.
It was awhile and I waited patiently, finally Icara and I had a
moment.

"How are you holding up?" I just wanted to get a feel for her
level of anxiety.

She had been given some medication so that she could relax, and
she did so in a plush leather chair. "How can people be so evil,
Odex?"

I shrugged. "All my life. I've asked myself that same question."

"So. You don't think that Zarustra is really behind any of this?"

"Okay. Let's reason this out. What would Zarustra need money
for?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Zarustra is an evil demon. What would a demon like that care
about money? He cares about hurting people, stealing their souls.
You know? Supernatural stuff. Not lots and lots of money. No.
This is a real person, trying to get rich."

Her eyes seemed to acknowledge my words but only for a moment.
"When you are raised in an orphanage, you know that the
squid-clown is real. I know of children, that just up and
disappeared, Zarustra got them."

"It is an urban legend, Icara. Mothers tell their kid these
thing, to discourage them from wandering too far from the
protectiveness of the habitat domes. This guy, would have to be
over a hundred years old, the legend is that old."

"Not if it is a demon, like you said."

Ah. She had me there. "Well. No. Not if it was that. But. Like I
said, why would it want all that money?"

"Maybe it wants to leave Mars. You know, they are colonizing on
distant star systems now. Things are not like they used to be,
where colonization was limited to only our solar system."

I don't know. Maybe in sum way. Icara was exactly right. After
all, stranger things had happened on Mars. I mean, who would have
thought, that when we finally got the political will, because big
business saw the mining potential of the Martian land grab, that
Elves and other alien species, would also suddenly make
themselves known in an obvious way? You have to ask yourself, why
now? Was it that the mining and industrialization of Mars, would
prove to be so lucrative, that the others wanted in on it? What
history showed, was that alien presence, intelligent alien
species, had been in contact with mankind, since the beginning.
The problem with mankind, was that they were so deeply embedded
in the human psyche, that no one really noticed all the alien
influences, until, we actually, seriously, sought to make the
stars our habitation. Oh, there was the obvious reverse
engineering, that ushered in the era of technology. I mean, just
think about mankind, for millennia, content to be farmers and
shepherds. Then, suddenly, on the time line of mankind,
technology booms. Coincidence? I think not. Political culture
played a super big hand in suppressing the truth, first and
foremost, because the mega rich couldn't figure out a way to
capitalize off the alien presence. So. What do you do, tell
everyone that those angels and demons that the Holy Bible talks
about, are really aliens from some distant universe? Do you tell
everybody that God is real and that the birth of Jesus Christ was
the first birth of a clone? Cloned from God himself? No. The
society was so deeply brainwashed into believing our own self
importance, that it would take nothing less than the Second
Coming, in order to make the sleepers wake up. But. Wake up
mankind did. We discovered that there were all sorts of planets
and trade going on. Wealth to be had and civilizations to be
plundered. The demon seed had been well planted in the DNA of
mankind's psyche. Greed and war quickly spread wherever mankind
went. There would be no peace as the hopeful hand dreamed of. The
problem was that we encountered species that were just as greedy
and warlike as ourselves. So. The race was on to get the best and
the most horrible technology out there. War. Even in the cosmos,
was big business and mankind wasn't going to be left holding the
bag. We had a lot of catching up to do and we were genius at
figuring out ways to kill.

Eva sat me down in the elaborate study at their estate. "What is
it that you want, Odex?"

I was at a loss. "I'm sorry? What is this about?"

"You have been a trusted friend of my husband's for years. But.
In the course of time, I've had to learn a hard lesson. Friends
are never what they seem." It was about that time that a woman
came in with a business case filled with all sorts of money.

I just knee jerked reacted. "What in the freak is this?" Just
about that time, in rushed Icara and the Mayor. "What is going on
here?"

Larry looked disappointed at Eva. "Really, honey? Not everyone is
the late Mary Hughs."

Icara was equally upset. "Why are you doing that, Eva? Odex is
trying to help me. He has nothing to do with the threat to the
Children of Mars. I was the one who asked him for help. He
actually had to be convinced to come onboard."

Eva shook her lovely head. "No one can be trusted. I'm trying to
protect my family. Specially you, Icara. You were not brought up
into all this corruption. It is par-for-course in a wealthy
family. But. Coming from your humble upbringing, you are naive to
the ways of the rich and powerful."

Larry threw his hands up in the air. "And this is your way of
protecting the family. Odex might be the only person we can trust
in this matter. We can't turn on each other."

Icara took a seat. "No one believes me when I tell them that
Zarustra is real. He is behind all of this."

I briefly took Icara's hand. "I do. I believe you."

The problem was that I had started to open my mind to the
possibility, that at some level, Icara was telling the truth, as
she knew it. I mean, just look at my limited views of religion
and the supernatural? I believed all sorts of crap. Cloning
invented by angels thousands of years before the first science
would even entertain the idea as reality. Advanced beings living
amongst humans, well, we all learned that, that was true, when we
began to reach for the stars. So. Why couldn't this demon
Zarustra actually exist? I gave it a lot of thought, what if, an
alien had taken on the persona of that Zarustra, masqueraded as
this boogeyman? Terrorizing little children. What better place to
do this but in an orphanage? Icara was convinced that some of the
children that went missing were actually victims of this horrible
beast. What if she were right? Then the big question came to me.
How does Icara play into all of this? Why involve her in an
extortion scheme? It all went back to what I had told Icara. What
would a demon want with money? Then I remembered something a
priest had told me years ago, Mother Hannah was her name. She
once said that the devil desires those things that is of men.
What that meant was that, the wealth and the riches of the
material world, were the domain of the Fallen Angels. This was
the devil's Kingdom to the North? In passing, it all started to
make a lot of sense. Why mankind could not find peace, even when
he ventured into the stars. Because that same seed of damnation
was within him. It took greed and depravity to pay for the
ventures that led to the discoveries on other worlds. It was
history repeating itself all over again. Like when they
discovered the New World, across the sea. What motivated the
exploration? Was it the need to find out new things? No. It was
greed. The Queen of Spain wanted gold and natural resources. And
what was fueling the colonization and exploration of the stars?
Greed. The discovery of massive amounts of gold and other
precious metals on various worlds. They even discovered that oil,
which was thought for centuries, to be just a product of
bio-degradation, was in fact, something all very different. Oil
was discovered on worlds, where there was no bio-degradation, it
came about from some other geological processes. This was called
alien oil. On Earth, it came about from one source, but, on other
planets, that same substance, was created through very different
processes. Wealth was everywhere, and came about in very
different ways, according to the alien geology of the different
worlds.

I was following a lead and got a call. When I arrived at the
building, at the other end was this figure. It was a woman. When
I got closer, I discovered it was Icara. She was standing in the
night light, completely naked. Her back to me as if she were
basking in the night light. Something about what she was doing
seemed liberating. "Icara? What's going on?" I looked about for
trouble but found none.

"Have you ever bathed in moon light?" Icara's voice seemed
subdued and distant. Her body was exquisite. All the right
curves, from behind, her hips flowed and her shoulders were so
perfect. Man. She was a gorgeous woman. She slowly turned towards
me. Her thick full breasts moving ever so slightly. She came to
me and then, placed her hands over my face and kissed me on the
mouth. "I have to save them." She uttered.

I was aroused and confused at the same time. "Save whom?"

"I have to save my sisters and brothers." She stated and then
began to wander on off. I followed at a pace.

"We will get to the bottom of this. I promise." I watched the
woman move gracefully across the room. Her naked body calling to
me, it seemed. I wanted her.

"Have you ever heard of the Gypsies of Mars?"

Everyone had. They were some of the first indentured laborers to
settle on Mars. "Yeah. Why?" She stopped and I looked at her
beautiful form, then she turned and walked away.